Faith and The Christmas Star

Faith and The Christmas Star is a new animated short film made for children. Through almost entirely audio-visual means (without dialogue), it tells the story of an ice-skating woman, headed to deliver a Christmas letter for her mother. On her journey she learns to express kindness as she encounters two abandoned dogs and seeks shelter from the cold. This piece offers a unique mode of family viewing; one defined by a flow of images, a poetic narrative, and a less expository approach to storytelling. Written by Abby Davenport and Anne Trenning – with Davenport directing and Trenning composing the score – this is a satisfyingly structured, wonderfully crafted expression of festive spirit.

To begin, let’s discuss this gorgeous animation style. Clearly, a great deal of care and attention has been placed into the character design, backgrounds, and – perhaps most impressive – the movement. You can’t help but love the way the subjects onscreen interact with their surroundings, further immersing the viewer, not through realism, but through a comforting recognition of signs and behaviours. Our protagonist’s facial expressions are astoundingly dynamic for a relatively low-budget animated production, evoking emotion and allowing internal plot developments to take place without the inconvenience of speech.

The soothing soundtrack then, in turn, ties the whole thing together with the score cleverly mixing classical tunes such as ‘How Much Is That Doggy in The Window’ with a sort of base theme. Similar to the images, the music is continuous... evolving with each narrative beat. And it’s through this approach that the filmmakers quite masterfully play with concepts of time, using match-cuts to express ideas and – even without editing – containing multiple environments and temporal moments within a single, flowing shot.

From this critic’s perspective, Faith and The Christmas Star has one flaw which I shall now dissect. Approximately halfway through the film’s runtime, our protagonist enters a church and opens a Bible. We then witness a montage of sorts, telling the story of the birth of Christ. This sequence slightly sticks out as an overdone and inelegant use of animation, and a detour from the established style. Whilst it still looks and sounds lovely, what the film lacks in these couple minutes is the poetry, wordless nuance and narrative flow of the other twenty. More than being a religious movie, the filmmakers clearly wish to express more the sense of universality and care that comes with spirituality. Nevertheless, the scene also sticks out like a sore thumb due to the fact that the rest of the film proceeds to make clear all the themes and messages of this montage in far more convincing and subtle a fashion, without needing to resort to a didactic recounting of a religious story.

It’s an unquestionably positive thing to be providing children with works which – in addition to being so refined in terms of quality – actively encourage thought, reflection and engagement with cinema’s core characteristics: sound and vision. Putting the Story of Christ Scene aside, our main storyline is one which so beautifully combines everyday occurrences with a quaint, almost Miyazaki-esque feeling of the exquisite; a tapestry of comforting environments and activities. Offering a deeply comforting viewing experience, Faith and The Christmas Star proves to be a successful entertainment, as well as being aesthetically ambitious.